Doomsday Walchra
The Doomsday Book was drawn up about twenty years after the Norman invasion of 1066. This is the entry for Walkern:
Doomsday record of Walkern manor
“Dearman himself owns Walchra. It is assessed at 10 hides. This is land for 12 ploughs. In the demesne are 5 hides and there 2 ploughs in it and there could be two others. There are 14 villeins and 1 priest and 6 bordars have 8 ploughs. There are 8 cottars and 4 serfs. Pasture is there sufficient for the livestock, woodland to feed 200 swine. Its total value is ten pounds; when received it was worth 8 pounds.T.R.E.16 ponds. Alwin Home, a theyn of King Edward’s held this manor and could sell”.
A ‘hide’ was perhaps about 120 acres. A ‘villein’ held about 30 strips, ‘borders’ and ‘cotters’ probably one or two and ‘serfs’ none at all except for a small piece of land outside their huts. Villeins, bordars and cotters could not leave the manor without their lord’s consent.
- The Doomsday entry for Walkern Manor from domesdaymap.co.uk
Households: 14 villagers. 6 smallholders. 4 slaves. 1 priest. 8 cottagers.
Total number of households: 33 households [quite large, possibly around 150 individuals]
Ploughland: 12 ploughlands (land for). 2 lord’s plough teams. 2 lord’s plough teams possible. 8 men’s plough teams.
Other resources: 5.0 lord’s lands. Woodland 200 pigs.
Total tax assessed: 10 geld units [very large]
1066 [at reign of Edward the Confessor]: Lord of the manor was Alwin Horne; Overlord was King Edward. Value to the lord was £16.
1070 [when taken over by the Normans from the Saxons] value to the lord was £8.
1086 [date of Doomsday]: Lord of the manor was Deormann of London, he was also Tenant-in-chief. Value to the lord was £10.
- [From the Doomsday Book Online]
The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time).
The original Domesday Book has survived over 900 years of English history and is currently housed in a specially made chest at The National Archives in Kew, London. This site has been set up to enable visitors to discover the history of the Domesday Book, to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation, and provide information and links on related topics.
